Ondo, the next wave
Challenging yourself. Everyone knows it helps build confidence, increase resilience and even make your life more purposeful. Yet entrepreneuring engineers are often too busy keeping their business afloat, to realize that taking time away from their desks leads to greater things.
THE CHALLENGE
Baudoin, one of the co-founders of Konligo, has been challenging Konligo’s team more often than not. In doing market research he met with Arnaud Istas, Head of Business Development at EasyFairs. They wanted to create an inspiration space to be used during the wide range of fairs they organize. The technical requirements were:
- The size did matter. It had to be both big and tall so people could enter the domes and feel inspired;
- We had to avoid rectangular frames;
- It had to be modular and reusable;
- The structure needed to be installed by untrained staff.
Baudoin convinced our potential customer that we could provide him with a dome that would make a lasting impression on the visitors of the fair EasyFairs was organizing. He then rushed back to the office and challenged Lara (Alegria Mira, another one of the founding members of Konligo) into thinking about how to implement our patented scissor technology in the development of new Konligo domes for EasyFairs. She joined hands with Prof. dr. ir. arch. Niels De Temmerman and from this creative endeavor emerged three different scissor structures: a tree, a more organic form and a shape they randomly baptized ‘The Wave’.
Armed with basic 3D sketches, Baudoin and Lara headed to Ghent to pitch all three ideas. Pretty soon it turned out that the EasyFairs crew wanted ‘The Wave’, since the theme of the upcoming MoOD+Indigo fair that they were organizing in Brussels, was ‘The Next Wave in Textile Trends’.
The clock incessantly continued ticking the time away: only two months and a half were left until the deadline.
ESPERANTO
It wouldn’t be a Konligo dome if its name wasn’t translated to Esperanto.
You might know by now that the name ‘Konligo’ is in itself derived from the Esperanto word for ‘Connection’: kunligo. Since this word reminded us too much of a French word meaning something completely different, we decided to name it ‘Konligo’. Long story short: ‘The Wave’ became ‘Ondo’. The first tailor-made Konligo dome would soon become a fact!
EVERY CHALLENGE HAS ITS SUB-CHALLENGES
Now came the real work: finding a way to assemble the Ondo dome without using too many different components. With a little help from Niels, Lara reduced the amount of unique components from twenty to five.
Without overthinking it, the team built the Ondo according to Lara’s detailed plans. Building it was one thing, but how would we manage to set it up? Together with Haytam Abdelaoui, an intern doing a master’s thesis on the conceptual validation of a barrel vault scissor structure at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), we tried to pull it open from the top using a crane and a ladder to support the crane. Result: a bent ladder.
In came Deus Ex Machina. The tech savvy Baudoin Hubert came up with a tool which would enable us to open the dome from the inside: a front lifter.
Like with all Konligo domes, the Ondo was manually opened to its first opened phase. In came the lifting device which was carefully placed under Ondo's highest peak. Aushim and Haytam turned the front lifters’ handles with great precaution. The suspense was tangible. The Ondo was now completely opened. It was time to retract the front lifter and see if the dome would stay in place. Aushim left Haytam in charge of retracting the lifting device. And behold, a star was born: Ondo didn’t budge. It worked. Lara, who was filming the whole thing, was overjoyed.
Agreed, with its surface of 100m2 and its 6 meters height, the Ondo dome is more massive than the Fastival or the Arko collection and less easy to set up, but it stands out thanks to its unique design.
Next time you think about a specifically shaped dome for your brand activation campaign for instance, don’t think it’s impossible. Just remind yourself that at Konligo, we’re always up for your challenge!
Why use recycled aluminium structures for your events?
Are you involved in the organisation of a festival, a congress or a sports event and do not know what type of structure to choose for your stands? Konligo, the event partner specialised in reusable and modular pop-up structures in Belgium, explains the advantages of recycled modular aluminium infrastructures.
Why choose recycled aluminium as a pop-up structure material?
In the events sector, it is not always easy to be eco-responsible at all levels. Finding materials that can be easily recycled is not so common, due to their manufacturing process or the costs involved. Nevertheless, it is becoming more and more consistent today to propose a sustainable project, an event that tries to minimise its ecological footprint. When it comes to structures for the creation of stands, DJ areas, arches or even branching areas, one sustainable and reusable material stands out in particular: recycled aluminium.
Aluminium is a 100% recyclable material. Compared to its raw state, its use considerably reduces the environmental impact of the product it is made of, as well as reducing carbon emissions by up to 95%. Aluminium is an abundant, recyclable, non-toxic resource that does not pollute the soil and, what's more, can be reused many times thanks to its strength and practicality. The latter is especially true if the product is made in an eco-friendly way, by using modularity as key principle. By modularity we mean the reuse of subcomponents to make an alternative end product (like lego).
Advantages of a recycled aluminium structure for your event stand
Most event infrastructures are physically and ecologically heavy and time-consuming to set up. A recycled aluminium structure can be used to create modular, customisable and easy-to-set up exhibition stands, stages or tents. Indeed, these structures, although temporary, are nevertheless reusable and have nothing to envy to metal scaffolding.
One of the main missions of the event industry today is to offer local and ecological solutions. Using modular structures made of recycled aluminium is one of the options to contribute to a more sustainable future, while combining modernity and efficiency. The recycled material is re-used in subcomponents who themselves are re-used in different modular end products (structures). However, making all the other materials that cover and decorate your structure (membranes, banners, etc.) sustainable is still very challenging.
Are you interested in recyclable structures for the organisation of your event fair in Belgium?
Contact Konligo, your partner for recycled aluminium and modular event structures (85% recycled) in Belgium, via the online contact form or by phone. Their team will be happy to answer your questions and assist you in your projects.
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern - Care for each other
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern will be a series of articles published every Friday for 5 weeks. With this series you will be able to see Konligo through the eyes of an intern and how our core values affect the way we work both individually and as a team. Ahmed Soliman was an intern for 2 months at Konligo in architectural engineering and R&D. Each week he will talk about one of our 5 core values at Konligo.
Core Value 5 -Care for each other
At Konligo, I was fortunate to build strong social relations with a lot of good people. The team celebrates, eats, drinks, and works together. I had to invest time to get to know people from diverse backgrounds and nationalities. I can truly saw that I have learned a lot.
The team has lunch together everyday. It became a habit discussing interesting life topics and stories during this lunchtime. We talked about sustainability, politics, culture, marriage, sports, personal dreams, religion, family, art, and even philosophy.
Those conversations were eye-opening and refreshing but also created a path for the strong bonds and connections I created with everyone. Konligo was an interesting work experience for me but it was also a place where I created good memories and friends.
I appreciate the experiences and knowledge built during these months and I will take it with me in both my professional and personal life.
In order to conclude the Chronicles of an intern, I, the intern can only say thank you Konligo!
Take a look at the other articles of the series Chronicles of an Intern and much more.
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern - Dare to be opinionated and to be accountable
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern will be a series of articles published every Friday for 5 weeks. With this series you will be able to see Konligo through the eyes of an intern and how our core values affect the way we work both individually and as a team. Ahmed Soliman was an intern for 2 months at Konligo in architectural engineering and R&D. Each week he will talk about one of our 5 core values at Konligo.
Core Value 4 - Dare to be opinionated and to be accountable
Previously, I have worked in some big institutions. What is different about this internship is that the company is going through a scaling process. This means more flexibility and less bureaucracy. Even so, it's not just about the scale of the company.
Konligo is built on the concept of partnership, which means everyone has something to add. This spirit was reflected in how interns can approach their role at the company. I was given the chance to share my opinion on a lot of crucial topics. The team listened and took into consideration everyone's opinion. This opportunity to participate in discussing major company decisions came with a price: responsibility.
After 3 weeks in the internship, I was fascinated by the space given to the interns to take initiatives, for which I felt more responsible to present only the ideas that I believe could be worth a constructive discussion. I had to ask tens of questions and listen before I even suggested anything. This show me how there is always room for improvement.
I quickly realized that this is part of the learning curve, and understood that being part of an ongoing project takes time and patience in order to absorb all the details. Someone once said: “starting a job feels like you’re a new character on the fifth season of a tv show”. I found this statement very fitting to the situation. I needed to be more patient and read everything about the previous four seasons. With this I can say that in the last 5 weeks of my internship my initiatives and suggestions became more mature, promising, and realistic.
I can wholeheartedly say that if you give people responsibility it makes them grow and work twice as hard. I never felt like a mere intern, but always part of the team.
Take a look at the other articles of the series Chronicles of an Intern and much more.
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern - Have fun and enjoy while working for Konligo
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern will be a series of articles published every Friday for 5 weeks. With this series you will be able to see Konligo through the eyes of an intern and how our core values affect the way we work both individually and as a team. Ahmed Soliman was an intern for 2 months at Konligo in architectural engineering and R&D. Each week he will talk about one of our 5 core values at Konligo.
Core Value 3 - Have fun and enjoy while working for Konligo
During my time at Konligo, I simply had a lot of fun. The positive environment is driven by the sense of fulfillment and trust between the team members. Konligo makes sure to choose its employees and interns very precisely, and like so, the people fit together. The team enjoys working together and laugh while doing so.
During my two-month internship, I played a lot of basketball matches with the team, during breaks or after work. I’m thankful that the games are not part of my evaluation, as I lost almost all of them! We also participated in an after-work sports competition with other companies in the same establishment. We played badminton, tennis table and even more basketball. Although those fun activities were meant to strengthen our bonds as a team, it also refreshed our minds and raised the creative performance.
The fun environment is not just a result of having a lot of outside-of-work activities, it is a reflection of a successful selection process of the employees, in which everyone should fit in his job description and duties. Accordingly, the team is passionate about what they do every day.
At Konligo I learned that choosing a team candidate according to his passion and cultural awareness is sometimes more important than choosing talent and long experience.
Konligo Employees enjoying their break
Take a look at the other articles of the series Chronicles of an Intern and much more.
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern - Communicate Openly and Transparently
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern will be a series of articles published every Friday for 5 weeks. With this series you will be able to see Konligo through the eyes of an intern and how our core values affect the way we work both individually and as a team. Ahmed Soliman was an intern for 2 months at Konligo in architectural engineering and R&D. Each week he will talk about one of our 5 core values at Konligo. Today the topic is communication, a concept that can have different facets and make or break a team. Konligo makes it a priority, let's see how.
Core Value 2 - Communicate openly and transparently
Every month, Konligo has a “Frizby meeting” procedural concept. Two people conduct a closed meeting to discuss everything they experienced that month, but most importantly to give feedback. It is a skill to accept criticism but also to give a constructive one.
Transparency was one of the major points that caught my attention in Konligo. I have middle eastern work experience, in which secrecy and ambiguity are at times part of the managerial mentality. At Konligo, I knew the weekly plan of each member of the team, I discussed the vision of the company and asked about financial funds. There were no secrets in that company apart from a secret birthday party! I openly discussed the professional strengths and weaknesses of my colleagues, supervisors, and myself hearing at times “I failed to do that” or “I wasn’t that good".
Given the fact that the team is highly skilled and achieving, transparency was just a means to improve. I should mention that working at Konligo was less stressful than my past working experiences even though it was more challenging.
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern - Adhere to humanistic values which are built around empathy
The Chronicles of a Konligo Intern will be a series of articles publish every Friday for 5 weeks. With this series you will be able to see Konligo through the eyes of an intern and how our core values affect the way we work both individually and as a team. Ahmed Soliman was an intern for 2 months at Konligo in architectural engineering and R&D. Each week he will talk about one of our 5 core values at Konligo. Starting with adhering to humanistic values which are built around empathy.
The core values of Konligo can best describe my time in the internship. Along with the vision of the company, those values were always inspiring and guiding the team members during their daily work. My internship experience can be summarized in relation to those values.
Core Value 1 - Adhere to humanistic values which are built around empathy
Konligo strives to magnify the humanistic values of its team, it prioritizes the notion of “let’s be good persons” before being “good employees”. Considering that being “good” is a very relative criterion, the team was always caring, selfless, and empathetic. I think it’s distinctive to work in a team that wants to be better on a personal scale before a professional scale. It may sound magical and definitely could have some downsides from the competitive capitalist perspective of modern society, but it’s working.
Surely, It’s all about money at the end of the day. But for everyone in Konligo, money is just the tool to make an impact in the world. It’s the way to survive and sustain, but it's not the goal, at least that was my impression. Unlike most of the huge modern monster companies, those core values about empathy and change are not just media propaganda, it’s what the company stands for. I think if the world stands a chance, companies like Konligo are the ark that everyone should jump in.
At Konligo I have learned to bring my personal issues to work. It may sound unprofessional, but it definitely isn’t. It’s just more realistic and again more result oriented. Opening up and being vulnerable is usually a faster way to solve problems. While this concept is very new to me in a professional environment context, it widened my vision to have a better understanding and empathy towards my colleagues. People are not machines and personal life does matter.
If you are trying to make an impact on the world, you could first try to make a positive impact on the colleague beside you.
How sustainable is a manufacturing company like Konligo?
Sustainability is one of these new buzzwords next to AI, A/B Testing, Eco-Friendly, etc. But what does it mean to be sustainable? What is the difference between greenwashing? And how realistic is it to be sustainable knowing that manufacturing a new product is already a weight on our environment?
At Konligo, we have reached the tipping point between a start-up and a scale-up. It is an interesting step in the life of a young company because it generates interesting debates about the choices we are making.
Sustainability or economic choices?
On one side, we have our vision (a zero-waste event sector) with our humanistic core value. On the other side, we have the economic reality. Two conflicting objectives in a challenging equation full of tricky parameters.
We can opt for a fully sustainable business, without any CO2 emissions, however, in a manufacturing start-up you are very rapidly confronted with the reality:
- You produce something and therefore you use energy and raw/recycled/reused materials.
- There are raw materials and end products that are not available in Belgium/Europe so they have to be transported by truck/boat (for some companies even plane), generating a high CO2 emission.
- Belgian labor is very expensive. And robotic labor is not per se sustainable due to its production process and energy used.
On the other hand, we could go fully for an economic solution, knowing that if we do so, we are throwing away our sustainability principles, as labor and materials are far cheaper in countries like China (some of our competitors are flying branded tents from China by plane and it is still cheaper than our products produced entirely in Belgium…).
Our solution? Being transparent.
In the world of mathematics and optimizations, an equation with conflicting objectives does not have one optimal solution but a range of optimal solutions, each solution being equally valuable: so which is the right answer in our case?
At Konligo we have decided to go for a mix of sustainable and economic solutions. We can still improve the carbon footprint of our products but we cannot hamper our existence. It is not a fixed solution but a variable solution that is re-investigated very frequently to make sure we stay true to our vision and core values. As well as durable in time with a feasible and self-supporting business model. Because in the end, if the business model is not viable and a company closes its door after 3 years, even if it had very sustainable products, the impact of the company would be next to nothing.
What are our actual situation and our next steps?
We know we are not there yet, but we are doing everything in our current power to deliver a sustainable product:
- The design of our product is future-proof as it can be adapted in time because it is modular and replaceable (every piece of our product can be replaced, making it analog to the fair phone).
- All the pieces can be re-used across almost all of our structures because we didn’t conceive a product, we conceived a kit adaptable to create different shapes.
- We manufacture everything in Belgium, mainly in our workshop at Circularium (Anderlecht). Almost no other supplier of temporary structures does this anymore.
- Our main suppliers are Belgian companies and the recycled aluminum comes from Belgium.
The designs of our tents, stands, DJ booths and pop-up structures are part of the circular approach.
We are aware we still need to improve:
- Our joints are CNC machined, which requires quite a lot of energy and creates waste during the production (which can be recycled but then again asks for energy).
- Painting is used to protect the aluminum beams, this provides them a longer lifespan in the event sector, however, it is still painted.
- None of the membrane suppliers can yet propose recyclable options. To counteract, we try to re-use old membranes for covering sleeves, protection tarps, etc…
- The raw material of our membrane suppliers comes from outside Europe, mostly China. However, they are manufactured (and printed) in Belgium, something that not a lot of tent and party tent suppliers still do.
So why is it not greenwashing?
Because we don’t pretend to have the best ecological product on earth. But we do our best to make it the most sustainable possible knowing the circumstances and the economic reality. And this motivation does not come because of the trend around sustainability, but because this is a value embedded in our core values and lies at the origin of Konligo. Furthermore, to make sure we are aware of the new ecological alternatives that could replace some of our components, we are actively participating in different groups around circular and sustainable economy (we are board members of Circlemade and Hospitality for example) so that we can test the innovation in our sector as soon as possible.
How sustainable is a manufacturing company?
It is not a black and white answer. In the end, for us, it is about direct and indirect positive impact.
Directly because we can prove that our clients have reduced their carbon footprint by choosing our structure instead of another one, making the CO2 net balance positive. And indirectly by inspiring other entrepreneurs, our suppliers, and our team to be more sustainable and to have a positive impact. We do this by our actions, our philosophy, our vision, and mostly by mobilizing people around our project. And that multiplicator effect has much more consequences than we can imagine.
And the Winner is ...
This past September Konligo was present at Municipalia, a trade-fair that aims to present (local) government representatives and public officers with solutions to help them improve services in their towns & cities.
That day we offered a challenge to our visitors: to guess how long it took us to set up the structure with the (white) membrane. The correct time was 6 minutes and 21 seconds.
And the winner is ...
Rose Marie Wilmotte from R.E. Wartet Football Club who guessed 6 minutes and 33 seconds.
Congratulations! We will contact you as soon as possible to discuss when you would like to make use of your prize: a €750,- voucher for the rental of a Konligo structure at one of your events.
There is a lot more to discover about Konligo checkout the rest of our website and our social media to find out more!
Cultural Intelligence
I started my internship at Konligo 1 month ago in Marketing and Communication. I was challenged to write an article and after some deliberation I realized a great topic would be to focus on cultural diversity. In our team we have Ahmed from Egypt, Cyril from France, Simon from the Netherlands, Arnaud from Belgium, Aushim with background from Bangladesh, Lara half Portuguese and me from Portugal. We find ourselves having conversations about our different experiences and cultures which brings a new perspective to our work. This brings me to my next point.
We are no longer strangers to concepts such as IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional intelligence), however a new wave of social research has introduced cultural intelligence. Culture is part of what builds our identity. It is extremely present in our lives, it affects gestures, actions, opinions, who we are and how we act. Being that we live in a multicultural world it's important to understand how to navigate this diversity and how to make it an advantage. This is where cultural intelligence comes into play. Experts define it as the skill to understand different behaviors and being able to work across cultures while adapting to the diversity. It is important because it creates bridges and helps in dealing with unfamiliar scenarios.
Julia Midleton said in a TEDTalk that cultural intelligence will change the world. I found it to be a huge affirmation but the longer I sat with this thought I realized that it could in fact be true. Cultural competence creates an environment where everyone is welcome, builds integration and maximizes the productivity of any interaction.
And how do we work on our cultural intelligence?
We educate ourselves, the first step is to realize there is much more out there, so much to learn and so many different cultures, and just because it is different it does not mean it is wrong.
It might seem simple but we only realize how culturally challenged we are until we have contact with different people from different backgrounds. We should meet people from different communities and social groups so we can actively work to eliminate cultural intolerance.
When it comes to a company's health within a team it's important to take into consideration open communication and acceptance. Konligo tries to dedicate time in cultivating a good work environment, liberal and autonomous. It’s crucial to encourage psychological safety and equal speaking time as well as inclusivity in decision taking. Part of this also means to take into account the cultural differences of our team members, who come from different backgrounds and different parts of the world. By creating a culturally diverse team we want to broaden our own perspectives and create an inclusive team where everybody feels welcome.
Especially for companies in the event sector it is crucial to take into account cultural diversity of its (potential) visitors in this increasingly multicultural world. Cultural Intelligence will be increasingly important to attract a large enough audience and to effectively engage with them.
If everyone is open minded and works on understanding diversity, perhaps we CAN change the world and make it a better one, or we can at least organize better events.